ABI: Samsung drawing closer to Apple in the tablet market

The latest numbers from ABI Research are in, and it shows the continuation of a recent trend in the tablet market. While the Apple iPad once had an overwhelming lead in global tablet market share (due to the fact that it had created the category), Samsung's Android powered slates are beginning to catch up. ABI Research has just reported its first quarter figures, and year-over-year Apple saw a decline of 10.1% percent in tablet shipments to 16.4 million units. During the same three month period, Samsung showed an increase of 10.80% in tablet shipments to hit a total of 13 million units shipped. Including the Nexus 7, Asus was third with 2.1 million slates in transit from January through March. That was a decline of .8% from the previous year.

Android continues to lead the way with a 56.3% share of new tablet shipments from January through March of this year. A 39.6% share was scooped up by iOS in Q1, followed by the 4.1% share belonging to Windows 8/RT. It should be noted that because not all vendors have reported, the figures have an accuracy rate of +/- 3%.

"Despite questions remaining about data disclosure in 2010 and 2011, Samsung’s release of tablet sales data this past quarter is a good sign for the mobile computing market. Whether due to its confidence in the economy, its own business, or a combination of reasons, Samsung continues to demonstrate tablet growth as its 2013 retail push in North America and Western Europe pays off."-Jeff Orr, senior practice director, ABI Research

The two rivals, Samsung and Apple, combined to account for 71% of the 41.3 million branded tablets that shipped in the first quarter. The 3.4 million tablet difference between the two was the closest to date. In addition, 22% of the tablets shipped with an embedded modem (3G/4G), the highest figure since the September quarter in 2011. ABI also pointed out that "as major advanced markets become saturated, buyers are expanding their tablet use case, which is also pushing up the ASP (Average Selling Price) in these markets."

ABI Research's latest numbers show Samsung closing in on the Apple iPad

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The iPad certainly has better tablet apps than Android, but Samsung had made some great tablets of late.

The TabPro 8.4 stands out for its 2560x1600 resolution, 2GB RAM, and $350 price. The Note tablets have good resolution and Wacom pens, for around the same money as the higher spec iPads.

After having two different Samsung tablets, using an iPad is an awkward experience. "Where did this app put the back button?" and "Where's the app menu for this app?" or "Why is it so many user actions to quickly switch apps?".

Once Android tablet apps get better and more numerous, it's tablet game over for Apple.

Just like for phones...Apple isnt the dominate force in tablets anymore. Android tablets has one big advantage over iPads.....app development.

Unless things have changed...Apple devs have to make separate apps for tablets and phones. In Android a few years ago, probably the next update after Honeycomb Android has something called Fragments.

Apps can scale based on screen size and resolution. As long as the developer codes it correctly. Thats why on the beginning it was a lil unfair to say Android tablets lacked apps vs iPads. maybe Apple made changes now too. But that was a kinda unknown advantage Android tablets had.

21.Sid91 (unregistered)

I Think when it comes to interface for tablets Samsung has hit the bulls eye with the magazine ui , multitask prowess and s-pen making it a true powerhouse , that being said the market apps leaves a lot to be desired, The android apps are available for tablets but not optimized for them.

I own the ipad air, its a great tablet but highly dependant on your laptop you cannot transfer music photos without itunes or icloud unlike Samsung usb drive connect and transfer also I have already invested a lot of cash in apple apps like 700 bucks so cannot really switch without a really good reason.

I carry my mac pro while travelling even though its a pain to carry and leave my ipad at home cuz its pretty much limited (cannot transfer anything on bluetooth Docs etc and cannot attach hard drives where my files are kept) i saw the samsung tab. at the store as per the salesperson's i can do 95% of my office work entirely on it and is easier to carry around.

But in terms of market share, they have decided to let things run their usual course for a luxury brand. So market share declines year over year, every year. It will reach some steady state point, maybe in a decade, maybe less.

At this point in time, there will be few app developers as the market has shrunk so much while development costs have gone up and up and up. Without great apps, Apple will struggle a lot more than they are struggling today.

Apple's current business model of a profits only approach will come back to haunt them. They've been losing market share in the tablet space to Samsung, and in the smartphone market to Android & WP in recent months. If they continue their way of releasing only premium phones and no cheaper options, they'll struggle really badly in emerging markets, which are the future for growth, as the US, West European and East Asian markets are getting saturated, and from the "next billion" smartphone users from developing countries, I see only Android and WP relevant.

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple were happy to let Android and WP fight for those high volume, low margin customers. When those markets develop far enough and the people become more prosperous, they'll start switching to Apple as the premium smartphone maker. Don't forget, Apple is an aspirational brand that people want to be able to buy, but can't always due to their limited means. Once they have the means, they'll buy.

Apple doesn't want to get involved in low profit s**t products, how hard is that to understand? They don't care about phones like the Lumia 630 or Galaxy Ace 4. That's why all the comparisons between Android, iOS en WP don't make any sense at all. Just look at the figures, Apple sells 9/10 million iPhone's in the first weekend, while the Galaxy S5 needs 30 days.

Lol sadly for you the S5 sold more in its launch weekend than the 5s did, for that matter they posted that article on this site as well. If you want to compare smartphone sales in general as you tried in your biased fervor, then you'd fall even further behind.

Hardly surprising since Samsung offers tablets at all price points. However, there's no beating Apple in built quality and APPS. But the day isn't far away when Samsung overtake Apple in the tablet market.

people dont care about quality apps as long as it is working for them , thats a ultimate excuse always made by apple fan, typical apple users have lack of tech knowledge .i dont think they care about how a app is optimized.

To me, the most astonishing thing is how far the other manufacturers are... Asus is third, with only 2.1% of the market share, which includes the Nexus 7... and Asus has a lot of models on the market (and they're actually good), so this means... how much did the Nexus 7 sell? 1m?

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